Iceburn, known later as the Iceburn Collective, was a musical group formed in 1991 in

Salt Lake City, Utah Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. It is the county seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Salt ...

, US, by guitarist/vocalist/composer Gentry Densley, the sole constant member through multiple personnel changes. They were known for their unique style that combined elements of

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

, heavy metal,

punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

, and

classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be #Relationship to other music traditions, distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical mu ...

. Releasing albums on

Revelation Records Revelation Records is an independent record label focusing originally and primarily on hardcore punk. The label is known for releases by bands such as Youth of Today, Warzone, Sick of It All, Quicksand, Side By Side, Chain of Strength, Sh ...

and

Victory Records Victory Records is a Chicago-based record label founded by Tony Brummel. It operates a music publishing company called "Another Victory, Inc." and is the distributor of several record labels. It has featured many prominent artists including Thu ...

, Iceburn achieved little mainstream attention, but earned critical praise for their unusual music.

Band history

Their early output could be classified as jazzcore, blending the speed and energy of

hardcore punk Hardcore punk (commonly abbreviated to hardcore or hXc) is a punk rock music genre#subtypes, subgenre and subculture that originated in the late 1970s. It is generally faster, harder, and more aggressive than other forms of punk rock. Its roots ...

and

metal A metal () is a material that, when polished or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electrical resistivity and conductivity, electricity and thermal conductivity, heat relatively well. These properties are all associated wit ...

with the intricacy of jazz and

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog) is a broad genre of rock music that primarily developed in the United Kingdom through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early-to-mid-1970s. Initially termed " progressive pop", the ...

. For their first few years and albums, Iceburn were, for the most part, a classic "

power trio A power trio is a rock band format having a lineup of electric guitar, bass guitar and drum kit, leaving out a dedicated vocalist or an additional rhythm guitar or keyboard instrument that are often used in other rock music bands that are quart ...

" of guitar, bass guitar and drums. Around 1996, with the release of ''Meditavolutions'', a 70-minute continuous piece in the form of a musical

palindrome A palindrome (Help:IPA/English, /ˈpæl.ɪn.droʊm/) is a word, palindromic number, number, phrase, or other sequence of symbols that reads the same backwards as forwards, such as ''madam'' or ''racecar'', the date "Twosday, 02/02/2020" and th ...

, the band began to go by the name the Iceburn Collective, to reflect the dynamic nature of the group's membership. The lineup expanded with a saxophonist, percussionist on conga drums, and a second guitarist. Critic Bret Love writes of the album, "the eclectic sound of this Utah-based septet flows so seamlessly that it may take a few songs before you realize you've never heard anything quite like it." The band gradually introduced more and more improvisation. By the time they disbanded in about 2000, Iceburn was a completely improvised

avant-garde jazz Avant-garde jazz (also known as avant-jazz, experimental jazz, or "new thing") is a style of music and improvisation that combines avant-garde art music and composition with jazz. It originated in the early 1950s and developed through the late 1 ...

unit, featuring

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to p ...

and other

woodwind instrument Woodwind instruments are a family of musical instruments within the greater category of wind instruments. Common examples include flute, clarinet, oboe, bassoon, and saxophone. There are two main types of woodwind instruments: flutes and ...

s. Densley went on to participate in Ascend, a collaboration with Greg Anderson. Most of their albums featured artwork by Californian Rich Jacobs. Iceburn reunited for one concert in February 2007 to celebrate the 18th anniversary of ''Slug Mag'' (''Salt Lake Underground'', devoted to local music and arts), a longtime booster for Iceburn and Densely's music.

Discography

Albums

* ''Firon'' (1992),

* ''Hephaestus'' (1993),

* Iceburn/ Engine Kid split cd/12" (1994), Revelation Records * '' Poetry of Fire'' (1994), Revelation Records * '' Meditavolutions'' (1996), Revelation Records * '' Polar Bear Suite'' (1997), Iceburn Records/Revelation Records * '' Power of the Lion'' (1998), Iceburn Records/Revelation Records (Reissued on vinyl by

Southern Lord Southern Lord is an American heavy metal record label that was founded in 1998 by Greg Anderson. It initially specialized in experimental metal: particularly doom metal, stoner rock, and drone metal. The label later expanded its line-up to i ...

in 2009) * ''Speed of Light Voice of Thunder'' (1999), Iceburn Records * ''Land of Wind and Ghosts'' (2000), Mountain Collective Records MTN-CIA *''Asclepius'' (2021), Southern Lord

Singles

* ''Burn'' b/w ''Fall'',

* ''Moon'' b/w ''Brew No. 9'', Art Monk Construction * ''Leos'' 12", Lionhead Records * '' Zu/Iceburn - PhonoMetak 10" Series No. 1, Odin's Beard 10" split with Zu '' (2006), Wallace Records (Italy)

References

{{Authority control Musical groups from Utah American post-hardcore musical groups American avant-garde metal musical groups Victory Records artists Revelation Records artists Musical groups established in 1991 1991 establishments in Utah